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Movies / On DVD / Being John Malkovich
Being John Malkovich

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Being John Malkovich (1999)

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Reviews Counted:116

Fresh:107

Rotten:9

Average Rating:8/10

Consensus: Being John Malkovich is both funny and smart, featuring a highly original script.

Runtime: 1 hr 53 mins

Genre: Comedies

Synopsis: Original is far too understated a term to describe this picture, brought to you by the surreal, twisted minds of screenwriter Charlie Kaufman and actor-director Jonze. The story concerns a... Original is far too understated a term to describe this picture, brought to you by the surreal, twisted minds of screenwriter Charlie Kaufman and actor-director Jonze. The story concerns a puppeteer, Craig Schwartz (John Cusack), who discovers his office has a secret portal that leads directly into the brain of one of America's most popular actors, John Malkovich (Malkovich himself, in a hilariously self-mocking appearance). When the journey ends fifteen minutes later, the participant is spewed onto the side of the New Jersey Turnpike. Schwartz uses his discovery as a way to get closer to fellow co-worker Maxine (the always sexy Catherine Keener). Together, the pair form JM, INC., which allows ordinary citizens to join in on the fun for $200 a pop. But when Craig's wife Lotte (a homely Cameron Diaz), as Malkovich, is seduced by Maxine, things begin to unfurl at an even more outrageous pace. Sound confusing? Thanks to Spike Jonze's grounded direction, it isn't. The result is one of the decade's most original films. [More]

Starring: John Cusack, Cameron Diaz, Catherine Keener, John Malkovich

Starring: John Cusack, Cameron Diaz, Catherine Keener, John Malkovich, Orson Bean, Mary Kay Place, W. Earl Brown

Director: Spike Jonze

Director: Spike Jonze
Screenwriter: Charlie Kaufman
Producer: Steve Golin, Sandy Stern, Michael Stipe, Vincent Landay
Composer: Carter Burwell

[See More Credits]

Reviews for Being John Malkovich

  • T-Meter Critics
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21 - 40 (sorted by date; UK critics are listed first)
Text View | |< << 1 2 3 4 5 6 >> >|
Arrange By:Fresh | Rotten | Comments | Name | Source | Date
 
 

No one will accuse music-video director Spike Jonze of making his feature-film debut with a boring, conventional movie.

Full Review Source: Courier-Journal (Louisville, KY) | comment Comment
06/23/04
Judith Egerton
Judith Egerton
Courier-Journal (Louisville, KY)

Premises don't come packaged more cleverly than this one. Stellar cast, eclectic story and a peculiar concept render this an imaginative albeit uneven two hours of unusual movie entertainment.

Full Review Source: Palo Alto Weekly | comment Comment
05/14/03
Jeanne Aufmuth
Jeanne Aufmuth
Palo Alto Weekly

I highly recommend being John Malkovich. And if you can't do it, at least see the film.

Full Review Source: Film Quips Online | comment Comment
02/08/03
John R. McEwen
John R. McEwen
Film Quips Online

Featuring a bizarrely original storyline, the screenplay by Charlie Kaufman is brought to the screen by Jonze in what may turn out to be one of the funniest films of the year.

Full Review Source: Film Threat | comment Comment
12/08/02
Chris Gore
Chris Gore
Film Threat

Being John Malkovich is one head-trip of a comedy.

Full Review Source: Netflix | comment Comment
11/07/02
James Rocchi
James Rocchi
Netflix

It's clever, witty, dark and, most importantly, unwaveringly bizarre.

Full Review Source: Minneapolis Star Tribune | comment Comment
11/06/02
Jeff Strickler
Jeff Strickler
Minneapolis Star Tribune

What it leaves behind is a dizzying sense of exhilaration, like being bathed in champagne.

Full Review Source: Cincinnati Enquirer | comment Comment
10/15/02
Margaret A. McGurk
Margaret A. McGurk
Cincinnati Enquirer

Wonderful and inspired weirdness.

Full Review Source: Combustible Celluloid | comment Comment
10/11/02
Jeffrey M. Anderson
Jeffrey M. Anderson
Combustible Celluloid

Defies all expectations. It touches you in places you didn't think a film could reach. It's everything at once, thoughts, feelings, urges... But it is not total confusion. It does make sense. A lot. And it's hysterically funny, too!

Full Review Source: Montreal Film Journal | comment Comment
09/10/02
Kevin N. Laforest
Kevin N. Laforest
Montreal Film Journal

It's tremendously entertaining, and probably worthy of repeat viewings.

Full Review Source: San Francisco Chronicle | comment Comment
06/18/02
Edward Guthmann
Edward Guthmann
San Francisco Chronicle

São poucas, as vezes em que podemos realmente dizer 'Nunca vi algo assim!'. Este filme consegue se encaixar nesta rara descrição.

Full Review Source: Cinema em Cena | comment Comment
05/31/02
Pablo Villaca
Pablo Villaca
Cinema em Cena

Gender and relationships shift and merge and re-form like blobs of goo in a lava lamp… a profoundly anti-human fantasy.

Full Review Source: Decent Films Guide | comment Comment
05/08/02
Steven D. Greydanus
Steven D. Greydanus
Decent Films Guide

Everyone in this clever, funny film seems to be having a great time, and so do we.

Full Review Source: Seattle Post-Intelligencer | comment Comment
04/03/02
William Arnold
William Arnold
Seattle Post-Intelligencer

Jonze is a blithe puppeteer himself, and his canny self-referentiality is nonetheless ingenuous, though at times he gets a little too cute and frivolous for his own good.

Full Review Source: Boston Phoenix | comment Comment
03/24/02
Peter Keough
Peter Keough
Boston Phoenix

Wonderfully inventive, wickedly funny, and thoughtful enough to keep your mind on full alert, it's a square peg in the round world of genre films.

Full Review Source: Globe and Mail | comment Comment
03/19/02
Rick Groen
Rick Groen
Globe and Mail

Loses momentum tacking on countless plot twists that, while unpredictable, are tiresome and obnoxious.

Full Review Source: Matinee Magazine | comment Comment
03/08/02
Chuck Rudolph
Chuck Rudolph
Matinee Magazine

An Alice-in-Wonderland extravaganza about the yearning we all have , occaisionally, to be someone else.

Full Review Source: Spirituality and Practice | comment Comment
03/04/02
Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat
Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat
Spirituality and Practice

There was a scene in Being John Malkovich that ranks as the funniest scene I have ever, well, seen, in a movie. That would be when John Malkovich goes through the portal into his own mind. I laughed so hard that I fell out of my chair.

Full Review Source: Goatdog's Movies | comment Comment
02/28/02
Michael W. Phillips, Jr.
Michael W. Phillips, Jr.
Goatdog's Movies

The filmmakers are stoned on weirdness for its own sake, which is the danger of becoming too enthralled by the freewheeling ethos of the '60s.

Full Review Source: Movieline | comment Comment
01/09/02
Stephen Farber
Stephen Farber
Movieline

Ribald Kafkaesque romp Being John Malkovich contemplates the nature of sexual identity and celebrity with a surrealist shtick that owes plenty to Buñuel and Svankmajer.

Full Review Source: Slant Magazine | comment Comment
08/17/01
Ed Gonzalez
Ed Gonzalez
Slant Magazine
 
 
21 - 40 (sorted by date; UK critics are listed first)
Text View | |< << 1 2 3 4 5 6 >> >|
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